Wolf Pack

I was a one man wolf pack. I stood on top of the mountain and glanced out into the horizon, thinking to myself if I had any brother wolfs who were feeling the same things I was. I felt cold and lost and was in need of my fellow wolfs. I thought to myself about where I wanted to head on my journey. I debated about whether or not I should return from where I came from and pick up the life I had left or if I should continue to embark on my journey and see what the rest of the world I had to offer. I stood here for a while and really thought hard about this decision. I was in the Nevada desert and it was quite cold before sun down. I had left my family in search of new opportunities but had started to feel lonely and wanted to return to my home. Knowing that I would let my family down if I returned home, I decided to continue my travel to the land of Las Vegas in hope of finding new members to join my wolf pack. It would be difficult but I knew from that moment on that that is what I must do. I dreamed of my wolf pack and I having a glorious time in the city of Las Vegas and being able to run freely throughout the city with no worries in the world. I imagined us being the best of friends and becoming the best wolf pack in the world. I pictured us being loved by everyone and everyone laughing about the silly adventures that we embarked on. Most of all, I pictured the members of our wolf pack growing up and becoming married and starting families and when we got older we could all return to the city of Las Vegas and relive are best days. I knew that this was what I must do, and I continued my journey to the land of Vegas.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2010/entries/wallpaper/week-10/#/ngpc-wp-wk-10-14_29515_600x450.jpg

Fear Builds Walls

I feel that fear does build walls. When people are scared, they tend to stick to their normal habits. They don’t like to stray from their normal habits because they feel that new experiences may bring upon new fears. I believe that when people live their lives in fear, that they are essentially missing out on a lot of the great opportunities that life has to offer. I feel that people should live life with no regrets and take in everything it has to offer. When people do this, they tend to realize that the things they were once afraid of are things that should never hinder a person from doing something. Also, when people begin to become frightened by things, the fear usually tends to spread amongst other things. I think that in order to prevent people from being scared, they must stay active and explore as many areas as possible and keep things in their life exciting. I think that it is crucial to stay active with your friends and maintain a good social life amongst your peers. When people go out and laugh with their friends, they tend to forget about their fears and are able to overcome them. That’s why I believe that people say that it is so important to have good friends in your life and that it is critical to maintain a great relationship with your peers. AS you can see, this is how I feel about the saying that fear builds walls.

top ten of Nate Zobrest

1. Nate’s extremely manly deep voice
2. His sense of humor
3. His Height
4. His strut
5. His blonde hair
6. His normally long hair
7. His drawings
8. His double peanut butter sandwiches
9. Employment at McDonalds
10. His love of University of Southern California football

Favorite Holiday

My favorite holiday is Christmas. I like Christmas the best for many reasons. First of all, Christmas is one time throughout the year where I get to see my entire family. On Christmas Eve and Christmas day, everyone gets together and it just feels great to catch up with everyone and share a few laughs. Secondly, I love the time prior to Christmas when you get to go and buy stuff for everyone. Another thing that I really like about Christmas is going and picking out the tree and getting all of the Christmas decorations out. Also, I really enjoy seeing how excited the little kids get around this time of the year. It reminds me of when I was little and how excited I would always get thinking about Santa and all the gifts that he would be bringing. One thing that especially love about Christmas Eve is the surf n’ turf dinner my grandparents serve at their house. Every year we have filet mignon and lobster tails and I always end up stuffed after this meal. After my grandma’s house, we open gifts and then head over to my uncle’s house on my dad’s side of the family. It’s here where we have dessert and exchange gifts with that side of the family. On Christmas morning, we open our gifts at our house and then we go to breakfast down at my grandparents. They always have a huge spread of eggs and bacon and fruit and we always get to talk with everyone and see what kind of gifts everyone got. Christmas dinner is always at our house and my mom always makes prime rib. Everyone comes over and it is just an exciting and enjoyable couple of days. I love seeing my family and that is why Christmas is my favorite holiday.

Winning

Winning is being able to proud of things that you have accomplished. Winning is not always determined by the scoreboard but rather by yourself determining whether or not you can look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you left it all on the field or whatever competition you may have been a part of. For example, if you are playing an opponent in which you know you are expected to beat by a large margin, winning the game might not exactly be winning in your mind. If it is a game in which you should have no difficulty beating your opponent, you should want to focus on playing a perfect game and doing the little things better than usual. Also, many times in sports, winning can be determined by the amount of effort a person puts into the game. In a game, if a player gives his best effort and yet still loses, he might still feel as if he won. Thinking about all the time and effort he put into preparing for the game and everything he ever did to make himself better, he might feel that he did everything he could and that in his eyes, he is a winner for everything he has accomplished. For me, I think that winning is determined by the amount of effort that one puts into preparing for something. If a person is dedicated and puts numerous hours of work and thought into something, than I feel that if they give it all and never give up that they are entitled to be crowned winners no matter what the outcome is. No matter what the sport is or whatever the event is that the person is preparing for, if they are dedicated and work hard than I will see them as a winner in my eyes.

Things I'm Grateful For

One thing that I am especially grateful for in my life is my family. In my eyes, I have the best family in the world. Growing up, my mother and father have always been there for me. No matter what I have ever done, they have always been there to support me and mentor me. They have always given me everything I have ever needed to be successful. When it came to sports, they would have made sure I had the equipment I needed and would always make sure I had to a ride to every practice and every game. They would spend their money to send me to camps and clinics to insure that I got the best opportunity to become the best player that I could be. Academically, they have always made it clear to me that grades come first and if I ever forgot that, sports would be out of the picture for me. My brother on the other hand has always been there for me in ways that my parents sometimes couldn’t. Whenever I wanted to go outside and toss the football around or shoot some hoops, I always had my little wingman following right behind me. Over the years, it seems that he has also become one of my greatest supporters as well. One thing that I was surprised to learn this summer was the work ethic that my brother has developed. On a Saturday night in the summer when I would be sitting at home watching T.V., my brother would be getting his stuff ready to go to the field and workout for the upcoming season. It really hit me then that I kind of started to look up to my little brother and all that he has accomplished. No matter what I have ever done with my life, I have always had my family there supporting me. My grandparents and uncles and aunts are at every one of my games and I couldn’t ask for a greater family.

3 people

If I could have lunch with three people, they would have to be Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter and Jon Gruden. All three of these men are highly respected as athletes and as people with high character and I believe that I could learn a lot from them. Peyton Manning is known to be one of the headiest quarterbacks in the history of professional football. The man has broken several records and is a true competitor. With all the success that he has had, he still continues to have one of the hardest work ethics throughout the league. Derek Jeter has solidified himself as one the greatest Yankees of all time. From the moment he has been on the field, he has made a direct impact on the team. Over his career, he has become one of the best leaders in the history of baseball. Off the field, Derek Jeter has started charities and has always been a very generous person and is very well respected. Jon Gruden has been an NFL coach for a number of different teams. He has always been successful and has leaded his team to at least one super bowl. He has been known as a coach who rarely takes a minute off. In one of his books, he noted that he would average around three hours of sleep a night. The man is a great coach and an even better person. I feel that if I had an opportunity to eat lunch with these three gentlemen I would leave there a better person than when I arrived.

Favorite Quotes

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.
William Arthur Ward-
I like this quote because it speaks the truth about athletics. In every sport, players are faced with adversity in some sort of way. The way this athlete responds to this adversity is what truly defines their character. Some people see this adversity and back down from it and rarely succeed. Others see this adversity and look at it as a challenge and accept the challenge. These people that do this are the ones who are truly winners.
The more I practice, the luckier I get.
Jerry Barber-
I like this quote because it is right on when it comes to the way people think about sports. So many times you will hear about people accomplishing something great and all the critics respond by saying that it is just luck when really it is practice. In anything that you do in life, if you practice at it, you will always be more successful at it than before. A good performance is a direct indication of how well that individual has practiced. The moral behind this is that the more time you put into something, the more you will get out of it.

The minute you think you've got it made, disaster is just around the corner.
Joe Paterno-
I like this quote because it always reminds me to never settle for anything. People who always think they have things made always tend on losing things that they cherish most. So many times you see professional athletes who think they are invincible, get in trouble with the law and spend the next couple years locked up. This quote helps me to stay focused on the task at hand and not get distracted with things that are not important.
The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.
The will to win i

Thanksgiving

The way my family celebrates thanksgiving is probably pretty ordinary compared to other families. The day usually starts out with the guys in our family meeting at our cabin early in the morning and hunting. Everyone always has off from work on Thanksgiving so we usually are able to get a lot of people up there and we always share a lot of laughs. Around eleven o’clock, we start to gather are things together and head home. When we get home, we are greeted with the scents of numerous foods and desserts being baked. This immediately puts us in the Thanksgiving mood. Around 12:30 we head down to my grandma’s house which is right down the street and meet up with the rest of my mom’s family. The guys watch football and the ladies cook and prepare the food. Around 3:00, we are called to the dinner table and the feast begins. Turkey, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, corn, rolls and cranberry sauce are usually what I start with. I usually can get in another plate like this before I get full. My favorite part of this meal would probably have to be the broccoli casserole. Something about it just makes me wanting more and I always end up eating more of that than anything else. For dessert, we always have an assortment of different flavored pies and a slush cake. With a nice cup a coffee, these dessert cap off a wonderful meal and usually leave me ready for bed.

Respect

Respect, what is it? I feel that respect is a number of things. First of all, I think that respect is something that is earned and not given. Respect is when people look at you and honor what you do. They see how you have performed or acted and really admire it. They care about what you say and how you feel about things because they admire the way you act. Respect is something that can be earned and can also be lost. Respect is often earned when people see how you react in certain situations. When things get tough and everyone loses focus, but you are able to stay level headed and do what is expected of you is one way people come to admire you. They see that you stay on task and are discipline and people like that. Also, trust is a major aspect that goes into being respected. If people know that they can trust you and that you will do what you say you will do than people take not of that. Also, respect is somewhat odd in which someone can respect you but not like you. For example, someone can respect a player because of the way he plays and because of how good they are but on the other hand; they do not have to like them. They can respect what they do on the field but not necessarily like you off the field. Respect is something that is taken for granted and is a big part of our society today.

Respect

Respect, what is it? I feel that respect is a number of things. First of all, I think that respect is something that is earned and not given. Respect is when people look at you and honor what you do. They see how you have performed or acted and really admire it. They care about what you say and how you feel about things because they admire the way you act. Respect is something that can be earned and can also be lost. Respect is often earned when people see how you react in certain situations. When things get tough and everyone loses focus, but you are able to stay level headed and do what is expected of you is one way people come to admire you. They see that you stay on task and are discipline and people like that. Also, trust is a major aspect that goes into being respected. If people know that they can trust you and that you will do what you say you will do than people take not of that. Also, respect is somewhat odd in which someone can respect you but not like you. For example, someone can respect a player because of the way he plays and because of how good they are but on the other hand; they do not have to like them. They can respect what they do on the field but not necessarily like you off the field. Respect is something that is taken for granted and is a big part of our society today.

Dream Job

My dream job would have to be a professional football player. I can only imagine how incredible it must be to be a professional athlete. Football is my favorite sport and I am a huge NFL fan. Every Sunday when I go to the Bill’s game, I think about how much I would love to be on that field warming up every Sunday. I think about how much I would love to be able to earn a living for doing something that I love. Football has always been something that I have been a part of and it has always been a sort of tradition in my family. My dad was a high school football coach for a long time and I spent many of my younger years as the water boy for his teams. I always would play football games when I was a kid with my friends before I was actually old enough to play organized football. When I was six years old, I played pee-wee football for Alden Junior Football. Every year since then I have been playing football and helping out whenever I could. When I was in middle school, I would help the varsity team out by compiling stats and lending a hand on the sidelines. Football is something that I love and it has been very beneficial to me. I have never had a problem with preparing for football or putting in the extra hours to make myself better. Football is something that I have always loved and I would be honored to be able to be a professional football player and make money doing something I love.